Gustav jxterbock



UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

GUSTAV J UTERBOOK, OF BERLIN, GERMANY.

AMALGAM FOR DENTISTS USE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 485,280, dated November1, 1892.

Application filed January 4, 1892. Serial No. 417,007. (No specimens.)

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, GUSTAV J 'iiTERBooK, dentist, of Berlin, in theKingdom of Prussia, Germany, have invented an Improved Amalgam forDentists Use; and I do hereby declare the nature of my invention and inwhat manner the same is to be performed to be particularly described andascertained in and by the following statement.

My invention relates to a new and improved method of manufacturingamalgam for dentists use; and it consists in rolling the employed alloyinto very thin sheets and in depositing thereafter a layer of gold onthe same by means of an electric current.

The amalgams used by dentists for the purpose of filling teeth arecomposed, as is well known, of an alloy of silver and tin,to which anaddition of gold and platinum or of either of these metals is made inorder to improve the quality of the amalgam. When required to use thelatter, the mentioned alloy, which is sold in filings or chips, isdissolvedin mercury and may then be easily entered into the holes of theteeth, as it forms a very plastic mass, Whereat'ter it hardens veryquickly, and the whole manipulation is thus performed in a very shorttime.

The filling of teeth made in the described manner is not very durableand therefore largely defective on account of the impossibility ofpreventing the admixture of iron, dust, and the like in the describedmethod, and also owing to the fact that the filings are more or lessliable to be oxidized, whereby the homogeneousness of thefilling-amalgam is impaired. The mentioned noxious admixtures arenecessarily made in the course of the manufacturing process as it is inuse at present, as will be apparent on considering that small particlesof dust and dirt adhering to the tool employed for cutting the alloyinto small pieces and also small particles of metal detached from thetool itself will be mixed with said alloy.

The absolute purity of the amalgam is secured in my improved method byrolling the alloy forming one of the ingredients of said amalgam intothin sheets and by electroplating thereafter the sheets with a stronglayer of pure gold, whereby the alloy is also protected from oxidation.

As pure gold has great afiinity with mercury, the layer of gold coveringthe sheet of alloy is readily dissolved in mercury, and the alloy itselfamalgamates very rapidly.

In order to be made more convenient for use, the gilded sheets .may becut into small pieces and kept in bottles.

Having thus fully described the nature of my invention, what I desire tosecure by Letters Patent of the United States is- The method ofmanufacturing a gold-covered alloy, consisting in rolling an alloy ofsilver and tin into thin sheets and forming on the same a galvanicdeposit of pure gold, for the purpose as described.

In testimony whereof I have signed this specification in the presence oftwo subscribing witnesses.

GUSTAV J UTERBOCK. Witnesses:

FRITZ SPERLING, R. I-IERPIoH.

